The Arab League has refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, backing Palestine’s stance on the issue. The demand by Israel threatened to destabilize US-Palestinian peace talks, according to Arab leaders.

“We express our total rejection of the call to consider
Israel as a Jewish state,” said the declaration, issued at
the close of the two-day long meeting which has been taking place
in Kuwait City. The leaders also criticized “the continuation
of settlements, Judaization of Jerusalem and attacks in its
Muslim and Christian shrines and changing its demographics and
geography.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the necessity
for Israel to be recognized as a Jewish state is at the forefront
of the peace talks. He states that both Palestinian Arab
dismissals of the plans are the “root of the conflict”.

Palestinians recognized Israel at the beginning of the peace
talks some two decades ago. However, Netanyahu wants the
Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel as a “national
homeland” – a move which would obliterate the right of
return for Palestinians.

The problem is considered closely connected to the fate of
Palestinian refugees who were forced from their homelands in
1948, and they regard Netanyahu’s demands as a means by which to
address the question of Palestinian internally displaced persons.

The Palestinian Solidarity Committee-Seattle claims that the
international community "has already recognized the
Palestinian right of return. There is no reason that this right
should not be fully recognized by the State of Israel.”

Their right of return, they argue, is entrenched in both the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 13, 2) and The
1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Article 1,
C).

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the summit Tuesday that
during the previous eight months of Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations, Israel has only been working to throw obstacles in
the way of peace.

Netanyahu told visiting world leaders in January:

“The root of the conflict is not the settlements. The root of
the conflict is not and has never been the lack of a Palestinian
state. The root of the conflict is the consistent refusal to
accept the existence of an independent nation state for the
Jewish people.”

Arab League leaders rejected the recognition of the Jewish State
earlier this month in a statement in Cairo.

"The council of the Arab League confirms its support for the
Palestinian leadership in its effort to end the Israeli
occupation over Palestinian lands, and emphasizes its rejection
of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state,” Arab foreign
ministers said.

The US has already requested that Abbas make the move of
recognition as a framework agreement is negotiated.

“In recognizing the Jewish state [the Palestinians] would
finally make clear that you are truly prepared to end the
conflict,” Netanyahu stated in a concurrent speech to the
pro-Israel AIPAC lobby.

Abbas has been clear in stating that he will not recognize Israel
as a Jewish state.